Winters Sorceress
by alittlebitofkat
Summary: Amelia McCoy isn't who she thinks she is. Turns out her life is a lie. Her world comes crashing down around her as soon as Fury transfers her to the Avengers. Thankfully there is someone who knows what it's like for your world to be turned upside down. Bucky will help her, keep her afloat...but in the end will his help be enough?
1. Chapter 1

**Winters Sorceress  
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**By:** alittlebitofkat

**Rating:** R

**Pairing:** Bucky/OC

**Notes:**

This takes place in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but has some comic lore thrown in. I've kind of mixed and matched things to my liking. This takes place after the Avengers, but before Iron Man 3, Thor 2, and Captain America 2.

This IS an original character fanfiction, so it will probably skirt around Mary Sue territory here and there. I try to make realistic characters but at the end of the day she's still an original character who falls in love with a main character so consider yourself warned if you don't like those types of stories.

I have taken massive liberty with Bucky's personality, unlike in the movie universe-Bucky comes to Nick Fury early on wanting out of Hydra after what he's been forced to do, therefore at the start of this story he is a 'good guy' vs. 'bad guy' I've read a lot of "fix Bucky" stories and while I like them, I decided to go a different route.

I don't use a beta so it's up to my own tired eyes to go over what I've written-occasionally I might have things misspelled or my grammar might be off, it happens. The themes in this story will be dark, but there are certainly light moments.

Reviews are really nice, and generally I do like input from my readers into the direction I'm going or even suggestions for scenes they would like.

* * *

><p><strong>Amelia's Top Ten List for Being Held Hostage<strong>

1) Take stock of your surroundings and how you are tied up (if at all). Generally kidnappers are a lot smarter in real life than in movies so the chance of finding an easy way out is slim. Still, it helps to get acquainted with the area you're going to be spending who knows how long in.

2) If your kidnappers are drugging you, don't struggle. It sounds counterproductive but you'll do more harm to yourself than good. Don't need a needle snapping off in your thigh. That would suck.

3) Think of torture as free plastic surgery. If you ever get out of the situation, you'll probably have your nose reset-and you didn't need those wisdom teeth anyway.

4) Don't make shit up. Seriously it's a bad idea. They WILL find out if you're being kept long enough. It's better to say nothing than to make up an elaborate story.

5) Eat the food. There are better ways to drug you than the food, and what limited and shitty food they bring you is better than starving. You need to keep your strength up if you can. (And after a while anything tastes good, including stale raisin bread-at least you hope those were raisins).

6) If you are captured by men, make yourself seem as unladylike as possible. You never know what they might try to do. If you're awake, spit mucus at the wall, fart if you can, do anything to make them view you as 'gross'. You don't want to know what happens if they think you're attractive.

7) Pretend to be drugged as much as you can if they are drugging you. They won't know when it is wearing off that way and you might have some semblance of ability to have clear thoughts.

8) Try and keep count of the days. Even if it turns into a month, it's good to know what season you may be in. You don't want to escape ill prepared and end up knee deep in snow.

9) When you start to cough and shake, that's bad. If they won't bring you more blankets, it is worrisome. It means they don't care if you die now.

10) Never give up hope. Someone will come for you.

* * *

><p><strong>Prologue:<strong> The Girl of the Hour

Amelia McCoy was tired. She was ready to go home after a weeklong mission in Brazil. All she wanted was a long bath, a bottle of wine, and Chinese food-extra egg rolls please. Instead of getting the clearance to go home, Director Fury wanted to see her. Not only did he want to see her but he was making her jump through hoops to do it. Instead of meeting the imposing man in his office like she would have normally done he wanted to meet her five blocks away in a park overlooking the river.

It was dark too; this spy shit was really getting cliché. It was okay, the park was at least on her way home. The only thing she had time for was changing out of her uniform and tossing on real clothes in the locker room. Other than a couple of scrapes and bruises she made it out of Brazil in decent shape (and judging by her legs, in desperate need to shave). Normal clothes for Amelia were simple; she lived for comfort when she wasn't in uniform.

Leaving headquarters after a mission always felt good. She always had at least a week to rest after a mission due to her special circumstance. It was never questioned, and she had never been called in sooner than seven days after a mission. The air, as darkness fell was sticky, as it usually was in the middle of August. Still felt better than Brazil at least. She headed the direction of the park that Fury wanted to meet at. The night was young; traffic was still high-making her happy that she walked to and from work usually. Her mind was drifting to how good it would feel to sit at home for the first time in a week. Many of the agents she had met and hung out with outside of work tended to have very sterile home lives, almost as if they were just on mission until they died. It was sad.

She had been raised without much, in and out of the foster system so she longed for a home of comfort. Candles, plush blankets, picture frames, a wine rack, bubble bath...looking forward to going home is what kept her a good agent. Unwilling to mess up.

By the time she found herself at the park Amelia had decided that she would order the number four (sesame chicken) with a hot and sour soup and more egg rolls than she could eat in one setting. It would be glorious. Her stomach was growling just thinking about it.

"I was starting to get worried you would decide to bypass meeting me." a voice came out of the shadows, which instead of scaring her just caused her to roll her eyes.

"Well...the thought was tempting. I have a date with egg rolls to go home to." She told Fury as he met her at the sidewalk. He looked the same as always, all black, eye patch, scowl as if someone had eaten the last of his candy.

"We'll walk and talk then, you'll get home sooner and the chance of being overheard is slim." He told her. It was cryptic.

She didn't like cryptic.

"Good. I'm starving. What is this about?" Cut to the chase, that was Amelia. Probably what happened when you were raised mostly by men.

"I have a new project I want to move you to, but I want it to be very hush hush...at least for now."

"Why?"

He glanced down towards her and gave a look that was obvious for 'you know why' but he spelled it out for her anyway. "I think SHIELD has been infiltrated. What I'm about to share with you is something I don't want to be well known until it has to be."

"With an organization as big as SHIELD I suppose it was only a matter of time before we had a mole."

"I think it might be more than that."

"And why are you sharing this information with me? Why not just assign me and let that be it?"

"Because you can say no to the offer I'm about to make." He handed her a briefcase, silver and shiny. It was all so cliché that it made her want to laugh.

"I'm listening."

"What is in that briefcase are files meant for your eyes only, about the Avengers Initiative. I want you to read over them, think about it, and then tell me if you think you'll be a good fit."

She paused in her tracks, causing him to stop as well. The Avengers? She could understand why, without having an ego about it she was powerful-when she wasn't dead tired or insanely hungry. She wasn't a normal agent, if Fury gave this information to her-he wanted her there.

Instead of letting her speak, he continued. "With how things are going with SHIELD I think your talents are better suited for The Avengers-but the choice is yours. I have a feeling, and I'm usually never wrong that there is going to be a shakeup...and with your gifts it is probably best that you are in a different...unit."

It was obvious, it wasn't about a fit into the Avengers...it was about keeping her safe. She had been with SHIELD since she was a teen when her abilities first came to be, some of those that recruited her (Fury and a few others) always had a soft spot for her. Why, she didn't know, she was a downright terror in the early years.

She wondered what Fury knew about SHIELD that she didn't. Soon enough they were at her apartment complex. A nice house that was sectioned off into apartments. She had the top floor, she loved it.

"I guess I'll give it a look through, I don't think you're giving me much choice though." And he wasn't, he was basically telling her 'if you don't take this offer I'm making, you're an idiot'.

"It's a big change; I just want you to be ready for that. Not only is it a different team than you're used to, but they're also in New York. You'd have to relocate."

She sighed. "I'll look through this tonight, I was going to relax and watch trashy TV you know."

"Someone will be by in the morning for the briefcase, you have twelve hours."

And with that he was walking off, and she was left standing there like an idiot clutching a briefcase that looked like it would have been better placed in some spy drama.

"I think I'm going to get lo mein too." She told herself, fumbling for her house keys. "Lo mein and extra extra egg rolls."

* * *

><p>Amelia's apartment reflected her well. Outside of work she was a simple person who cared for creature comforts. She longed for warm throw blankets, dim lighting, scented candles, and fuzzy socks. The briefcase looked odd sitting on her kitchen table next to a stack of mail from the past week, magazines, bills, a few postcards from old friends.<p>

She didn't need the full twelve hours to overlook whatever information the briefcase held, and instead chose to order her food first and foremost. The Chinese place gave her forty five minutes to an hour until her food would be there (that's what she got for ordering so much) so instead of grabbing a bath she decided the best course of action would be to shower.

She ate a granola bar on the way to her shower, striping off her clothes with the promise she would pick them up later. In the bathroom she turned on the tap for her shower. It was a nice bathroom, one that had the tub and shower separate. She glanced at the tub longingly. "Maybe later." she said to herself. Not like there were police around to shout and make a fuss if she showered and THEN took a bath a few hours later. Dark red hair was pulled hastily out of the bun it had been in for the majority of the last week. Not only did that feel like bliss, but it was amazing how awful her hair smelled.

It only took fifteen minutes to feel good again. Cinnamon shampoo, suds upon suds of body wash, a quick shave. Her pale skin was lobster red by the time she stepped out and into a plush towel. She certainly wasn't a roughing it kind of girl despite what her occupation seemed to reflect. Wet hair was toweled dry before being quickly combed and tossed up into a clip. Her body once dry, was given a once over. Any scrape and Amelia would dab on some antibiotic cream. This was followed up by a vigorous brushing of her teeth.

Thirty minutes had passed by the time she was dressed in silk pajamas and standing at her kitchen island pouring a copious amount of wine. It was hard not to chug it after the first sip. The week had been hard, her body was sore, and instead of getting a nice relaxing night she had to make up her mind about...well a new life basically.

It wasn't a hard call, unless that briefcase told her horror upon horror she would accept Fury's offer. She wasn't stupid.

Amelia didn't realize she was staring at the briefcase until the delivery man knocked at the door loudly pulling her attention away. Another sip of wine before she set the glass down at the table and made her way to the door.

It was a big bag. Honestly it was always a big bag of food. It was a wonder she wasn't five hundred pounds. Instead of getting plates she would be eating straight out of the cartons with chopsticks, which truly was a wonderful experience.

And then, it was time to get to work looking over the files.

* * *

><p>Five hours, 4 egg rolls, half pint of lo mein, a cup of hot and sour soup, and nearly an entire dish of sesame chicken later...Amelia was done with the files. It was amazing what the press had left out of New York and the year after the fact. It was enough to make her head spin.<p>

1) Tony Stark had given up his tower in favor of housing all the Avengers on several different floors. Not only that but there was a complete medical center, research and development, and several office floors for both the Avengers business as well as Stark business.

2) Two SHIELD agents were already Avengers but they were also continuing to work as Agents as well. She had met Barton a few times during her training, but not the other.

3) Thor apparently had went back to Asgard for some time only to reappear later with his wayward brother who had been stripped of most of his powers and was to live among the people he had once wished to rule. Everyone had wanted to disagree, but Thor would only stay and help earth if they let Loki become a refugee.

4) Steve Rogers aka Captain America split his time between the tower and Washington DC, also working for SHIELD but not to the extent of Barton and Romanoff.

5) James "Bucky" Barnes who was also known as the Winter Soldier had also found himself as an honorary Avenger. He had approached Fury a while ago to try and help him with his memories after on a mission for Hydra he had managed to see a video of New York and Captain America protecting it.

5) Bruce Banner's floor had apparently been "Hulk Proofed" as well as the lab he worked in most of the time, which was his one stipulation for working and living in the tower.

It was an interesting group of people, with even more interesting files. Of course most of it was bare bones; a lot of the files were blacked out. A lot of it was over life in the tower, and the missions they had been on since New York.

Amelia could see why Fury would want her on the team, with her talents she would help out greatly on missions-but she would also be protected from the times she might overwork herself. Currently on any mission if she overworked herself, usually it was up to one or two other agents to make sure they got back safely-and a few times that almost ended up with them all in body bags.

The hard part of it all was leaving home, and joining a team that had been formed for the last year. They worked together, they lived together, and apparently they had Sunday dinners together.

Amelia wasn't that great at making friends. She had been raised in the foster system most of her life, moving from place to place-then eventually under SHIELD's care and watch which didn't lend her friends since most thought she was being treated better than others for her talents. Honestly she probably was treated better, but at the time she didn't know it-she was just a lost teenager who was alone.

She had seen all she needed to see, the briefcase was closed. It wasn't so much about making up her mind as it was about Fury prepping her for what was to come. Amelia had long since put her leftovers in the fridge-but now was grabbing for another very full glass of wine to take to her bedroom as she was setting her alarm clock on her phone. If she was up at eight it would give her time to get ready for whatever Agent Fury decided to send.

Her bedroom was much like the rest of her apartment. The hardwoods were covered in plush dark red rugs, her bedding was a down comforter and copious amounts of pillows. There was a television in the corner of the room that she turned on as soon as she set her wine down. Right away she muted it-years of working had left her with the need for light when she slept if she had the opportunity. The flickering light of the television helped put her to sleep faster than any nightlight. Wine was drunk, slippers were toed off, and she crawled into her bed. It was...bliss.

It was going to suck leaving her home.

* * *

><p>She didn't recognize the Agent that came for the briefcase, but the words he gave her proved that he was there for Fury. And before he left she simply told him, "I'm in."<p>

It left her wondering most of the day (while she did in fact watch trashy television) when she should start packing up her life. The day was spent relaxing, getting her strength back. Filled with bad television, diet coke, leftover Chinese, pizza, and a self pedicure in a ridiculous orange color to celebrate the last month of the summer.

Amelia loved time off.

If she had known the next day a group of people were going to kidnap her from her own home she probably would have said yes to that last piece of pizza.

* * *

><p><em><strong>Three days later.<strong>_

He had gone to her apartment due to the lack of communication when he had sent e-mails. They were on a secure line, and they weren't filled with anything that could give away knowing that there was a breach somewhere in SHIELD. It was unlike Amelia not to answer her work e-mails even on her week off. Especially from him. It was unlike anyone to not answer him.

Fury knew something was wrong the moment that he stepped in front of her door. There were two packages from Amazon-neither brought inside. It was unlike her. It also wasn't like her to leave the door unlocked.

The scene inside Amelia's apartment left him with a deeply disturbed feeling. It was a wonder no one called the cops due to noise. Several items in her home were tipped over, the television set, table, there was a pot on the floor-it looked like she had been in the middle of cooking spaghetti. She had been caught off guard. That was the only way they would have been able to take her.

That and the dart he found on the ground next to the stove. Tranquilizer.

Just the fucking start of the day he wanted.

"Hill? I need a car; I'm going to New York."

The phone call was short and sweet, and it took him a few more minutes of poking around the apartment to find that nothing seemed to be taken, and that everything pointed to the information he recently found out about Amelia to be the reason she was grabbed. Wonder-fucking-ful.

* * *

><p>It was Pepper's rule. Her one and only rule about everyone living in the tower. On Sunday nights if you were in New York at six PM you were eating dinner together. There was a common area between all of the floors, it had a kitchen, dining room, living room…all designed to have comfort in mind. Sometimes someone would cook if they felt up to it (superheroes could eat a surprising amount), but most of the time there was always a catered dinner waiting at six on the dot for them.<p>

Tonight was no different. Pepper was always the first to arrive, while Tony was the last. Today's dinner was fried chicken with all of the fixings. Pepper, as soon as she was informed Director Fury was in the building offered him a place at the table. Honestly he wasn't hungry, he had a missing agent-but he knew that the only way to discuss things would be to stay for dinner.

The partnership between Fury and the Avengers had grown over the last year. He kept his bullshit to a minimum, which for a spy like Fury was hard-and they tried not to drive him insane. It was a good place to be.

This wasn't the first time he was there for a Sunday night meal, so no one looked at him any differently-except maybe for Loki who always had a pinched look on his face no matter how 'rehabilitated' he had been. Generally speaking if he was there for dinner, he was there for a reason. Due to Pepper's dinner rules, he couldn't talk about it until the meal was done. Considering the fact that they were still running searches for Amelia waiting through the meal wouldn't be the end of the world.

"You're late." Pepper spoke, as Tony finally sauntered in. The rest of the team was already lounging around the table with plates of food happily eating, the only one missing-Bucky who had been sent on a mission earlier that week. He had to admit, Pepper was a good influence on the team.

"By three minutes."

"It's still late."

"There is still food available, so I'm not that late. Ah, Nicky to what to we owe this pleasure?"

He hated that damn nickname. It reminded him of his mother, and that was an unfortunate memory.

"You'll find out soon enough."

Tony just shrugged, Sundays-the only time when he wasn't willing to push the limits. It made Fury wonder exactly what Pepper had over Tony's head to make him behave so well.

Dinner conversation was very similar to a conversation at a family dinner table, stories about the week told, thoughts about the upcoming week, concerns over the weather-it was August it would turn to fall and winter soon. Everyone had a desire for simple missions over the holiday season. Fury ate quietly, chiming in here and there-his mind preoccupied with the fate of the girl he had known since she was fifteen.

Before he knew it, plates were empty and everyone seemed content to start on whatever Fury was there for. They moved to the living room area, leaving the dishes for later. He sighed, this certainly wasn't how he intended on Amelia's transition into the Avengers to be like.

"Last week I started to initiate moving one of my best agents to the Avengers program." He started.

There was a wide range of statements from "What" to "Without talking to us?" He held up his hands, telling them to calm down for the moment.

"I came across information last week, about a few things I won't get into here...let's just say moving her to the Avengers Initiative is the best call all around, not only that but she would be able to help you. She's not your...average woman."

"So this is about getting a new team member? We only have room for so many…" Tony was the one to say it, and it was true-there was only one more empty floor at the tower, which had been reserved for Jane Foster and her team for when they arrived, the only other place to put a new team member was on the floor Bucky was living on, which was the only split floor. Not to mention the team as it stood was good. Great even.

"A week ago, I would have said yes. Of course you would have been given the option. I had to go to her first and see if she would be willing to join. I had fully intended on bringing this to you to vote on."

"But?" That was Bruce Banner, of course he would pick that one up. Quietly listening neither upset nor pleased by the looks of it.

"But I think someone found out my plans as careful as I was, either that or it's one hell of a fluke. As of this morning or possibly sooner, Agent Amelia McCoy is missing from her apartment in DC."

"So, you wanted to give us an agent that is easily kidnapped. Way to go, that'll sure help us."

He threw the used tranquilizer on the table in the middle of the group. "This is the only way they were able to get her. She has talents that normally would have gotten her out of that situation...they knew, and they came in quietly and drugged her. Of course it looked like there was a struggle while she was fighting the drugs in her system…" A small smile at that, she could be a spitfire. "So now instead of a simple vote on a new team member I have to say this has turned into a rescue mission for your new team member."

"So we don't have a say in who joins anymore?" Steve Rogers stood up, ever the leader-ready to protect his team.

"I believe she is going to be tortured because she was given files on the Avengers Initiative to go over-those files were safely returned to me twelve hours after she reviewed them. So as of right now if I'm correct she is proving her worth to the team at this very moment. We have no leads on where she is, and I have a small group of people searching. This mission is something that will take importance over any other missions currently on going. The moment we find her it is an entire team effort to retrieve her."

He glanced around with his one good eye, making it a point to look over every single person in that room-including Loki who while mostly powerless still had some magical ability that would prove useful.

It was Barton this time who spoke up, "So what we're just going to abandon whatever mission we're on to sit around and wait for this girl to be found so we can rescue her...is she really that important?"

"Do you think I'd put you on this mission if I didn't think it was absolutely necessary? Her files are on this disk drive, feel free to have a look and see if you deem her worthy or not. I'll be in contact and I do expect your full support."

And with that, he left the room leaving behind quite a few very stunned super heroes.

* * *

><p>Of course it was Stark who grabbed the disk drive first, "Last one to the lab buys coffee for everyone tomorrow!"<p>

There were several labs in the tower, but it was obvious he was talking about the closest, on the common floor there was also a common lab. It remained mostly unused but Tony reasoned you never could be too sure, might as well have a lab on every floor that wasn't a residence floor.

Once the disk drive was stuck into its port he pushed the information on the large screen in front of them so everyone would stop breathing down his neck.

A picture was the first thing in the document, a standard SHIELD photo-showing a young girl with long red hair and light brown eyes. There was nothing overly special looking about her, just the same old SHIELD bullshit picture.

He scrolled over to the next page. "She was recruited at fifteen?"

Natasha spoke up next to him, "If you're talented, no matter what the agency they like to start young-"

"Wait, I know her." This was Barton, the only one who could interrupt Natasha without getting his balls ripped off. "She was in one of my training classes, I was teaching for weapons…"

"Is she any good?" Loki who had been quiet up until then spoke up, curious.

"Not really...but she doesn't need a weapon. I can see why Fury wanted to bring her to the Avengers."

"What do you mean, she doesn't need a weapon?"

"When someone gets recruited so young by SHIELD it's because they are special and need...help so to speak. This girl was still a newbie when she came to train with my weapons class for a while...it was just protocol, regardless of your talent you need to know how to shoot a gun, handle a knife...anyway, she has abilities."

"What kind of abilities?"

It was Tony who spoke up next, he had been scrolling through the file (a lot of it blacked out) when he found out, "She's telekinetic?"


	2. Chapter 2

**Winters Sorceress**

**By:** alittlebitofkat

**Rating:** R

**Notes:** There is a fairly big twist at the end of this chapter.

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter One:<strong> The Lack Thereof Will Leave Me Empty Inside

According to the marks on the wall she had been gone for forty five days. Which meant it was now mid-September. The first two weeks Amelia was gone she had been subjected to question after question. She always remained half drugged for the first week, but by the second week she was so weak that they didn't need to worry about drugging her-she couldn't use her abilities in that state.

She was asked about secret meetings with Fury, the Avengers, Loki, asked about past missions she had read through. Of course she answered none of the questions, which is pretty much rule number one of being captured. She had been put through torture, which in her ten years as a SHIELD agent was new. While some of her missions went wrong, they never went so wrong to where she was captured.

Torture sucked.

After two weeks it stopped. She could only assume they realized she wasn't going to say anything. Yet they weren't outright killing her, which meant she was being kept for something. She was half conscious on week three when they were making a video. Her captures were demanding something, in exchange for her life. She knew she looked awful on camera, her hair was dirty and filled with knots, she could feel the lingering bruises on her face and shoulders. Her clothing was torn and bloody. Her back had been repeatedly hit with a cane causing ugly welts to appear and blood to cover her shirt.

By week four they stopped feeding her three times a day and were now only giving her water and bread. Occasionally they would take her out for questioning, pulling her out of a dreary concrete (and cold) cell and into a horrible brightly lit room. The questions turned away from the Avengers and to about SHIELD itself. The last time they questioned her she had two fingernails ripped off, and her nose broken.

Week six came with a cough that was coupled with blood. Her body was weak and not healing; she shook constantly and was starting to throw up what little food they gave her. No blankets were given; no one came to talk to her. It was week six when she knew she was dying and they were okay with it. They had no more use for her.

* * *

><p>The breakthroughs came when the video had been sent to SHIELD headquarters. Fury might have been the director but there were still higher ups to go through-none of them were willing to do anything about the video. "Sometimes we just lose Agent's, we respect that Agent McCoy served us for ten years, but she knew the risks."<p>

That was fine, Fury didn't trust much of SHIELD anymore-the video had been taken to the Avengers, which of course was met with dismay. The captures demanded that the war criminal Loki be punished for his crimes, or else Agent McCoy who didn't look too good to begin with was going to be killed.

"Don't get your panties in a twist, we don't negotiate with people-" Fury started after Thor was getting up in arms about the whole thing. Loki was being punished, it wasn't up to mere mortals to decide what kind of punishment he had.

"I have a few people running traces on the video and the envelope it came in. Hopefully in a few days we might have a location."

"It really doesn't look like she can wait that long…" Steve brought up.

"I know."

* * *

><p>On day forty six she couldn't stop shaking. Her stomach ached and throbbed, right along with her head. Vision would fade in and out. She didn't dare go near the bread that had been left for her, while she didn't want to give up hope-she knew eating would do more harm than good.<p>

Her day was spent quietly reflecting on her life. Foster homes, training, her own really nice home. She had a good life, maybe it wasn't great-no one would truly miss her-no family that she knew of, no man, no real close friends.

Amelia had been in the middle of a coughing fit when she heard it.

Bullets.

She didn't know if she should be relieved or not. It could be a rescue, it could just be that this group of people had more unfriendly groups after them as well-groups that wouldn't hesitate to kill her.

The problem was, either way she couldn't get up. She was too weak to stand, her body was shaking too much, there wouldn't be a lot she could do if someone came in to kill her too. Her abilities were tied with how she felt physically-if she was tired (or dying) she couldn't use them. It was a crapshoot.

So all she could do was wait.

There were a lot of bullets. That wasn't surprising, the compound she was at seemed to have a ton of people. A lot of them were in lab coats when she saw them, so she could only assume part of the group was science based.

When the door was torn away from the door jam, she could only look on with half open eyes. Standing there illuminated by the bright light behind them was Iron Man and Captain America. Relief flooded through her entire body and for the first time in days she felt warm.

"Stand guard, I'll grab her. We'll have to rush back to the jet."

Captain America moved forward into her room, his mouth was set in a grim frown. She was aware she didn't look that good, "It's okay, I know I'm dying." Was all she could get out, her voice quiet and hoarse. It felt weird to hear herself speak.

"Let's not get ahead of ourselves ma'am."

He looked her over, clearly trying to decide how best to grab her to cause the least discomfort. Honestly any place he picked would hurt. It didn't matter. Finally after taking stock of her back as he sat her upright, "To minimize accidentally hurting you I'm going to carry you facing me. Your arms around my shoulders, legs around my waist. I know you're weak but I'll support you, you don't have to hold on too tight."

She nodded. He was right, she was weak. She was able to lift her arms up halfway and he finished the motion, while scooping down to grab her by her lower back and rear. She felt like a child in his arms. She let her head lull against his chest, he was warm, real, and finally she was safe.

"Time to go Stark, she needs medical attention now."

* * *

><p>It had taken the entire team minus Banner to get into the compound. It was tucked away in upstate New York, hidden deep in the Catskill Mountains. Banner stayed behind to prep the medical wing. They had doctors on staff, but they only came for missions-and they knew going into this mission that they would be bringing Agent McCoy back hurt.<p>

Even Loki had a place, which was fine by him-while he was much more of a scholar rather than a fighter he had missed being in battle.

Hawkeye and Widow were there to help get in, as well as find anything about the compound as well as what they had been doing to McCoy in the meantime. Generally speaking it was an easy task, since the compound was tucked away very well they hadn't been expecting any visitors. They severely underestimated The Avengers.

Thor was taking out people left and right, keeping the path to the entrance where Loki was stationed clear.

Captain America and Iron Man were the ones to go for the girl, and they did get her.

"McCoy has been acquired, back to the jet within five minutes-she needs medical attention now." came through their com links from Iron Man. He and Thor would fly back by themselves to the tower, leaving the others behind so there was plenty of room for an injured girl in the jet.

In the end none of the team had been hurt, maybe a little scuffed up-but they left the compound in ruins. Hawkeye and Widow both had black bags filled with information, and outside of that the only survivors were those that had ran off into the forest. There wasn't time to be concerned about those. Maybe they would go on to realize the error of their ways.

The girl that was placed on the stretcher in the center of the jet was much different than the picture in her file or even the video from weeks previously. She was dangerously thin, her nose was skewed to one side, obviously broken, and her clothes were caked in blood. She was shaking badly.

"How long until we get to the tower?"

Natasha had taken seat at the controls, already getting them in the air. "Maybe a little under twenty minutes."

* * *

><p>It didn't take long before the medical lab was filled with activity. There were a surprising amount of people in there for one small woman. Steve watched from the hall, a worrisome expression on his face. The woman had been through the ringer for a team she hadn't even met yet. It spoke of character, as well as a will to survive-he had noticed the markings she left on the wall when he grabbed her small frame-she was counting down the days to her rescue. Not one day was missed, she tracked them all.<p>

It was Tony who showed up next to him, out of his suit-looking through the windows with concern as well. There were so many people around the woman all they could see of her was a slightly bloody and pale hand hanging off the bed. "Fury wants to meet with us in the hour."

Steve nodded, finally pulling his gaze away from the medical team. "We were almost too late."

"I know. Dwelling on that won't do you any good." Tony looked him up and down and scrunched his nose with distaste, "Capsicle, you're going to need to dry clean that suit and rinse off."

Looking down Steve could see what Tony meant, his suit was smeared with her blood. It wasn't the first time his suit was covered in red, but usually it was the enemy and not a new teammates. "Guess I know what I'll spend the next hour doing…"

Tony nodded. He looked tired, not that Steve could blame him-they had been up nonstop the last few days figuring out a plan of attack. "Just, don't worry about it-the medical team we hired is the best."

"Who say's I'm worried?"

"Capsicle, your face is as readable as a babies. From the moment you found out she was probably being tortured over team information you decided she was your responsibility because battle with her or not she's a team member. You worry about the team."

"Someone has too."

And with that Steve was walking away, heading towards the elevators to head to his floor and peel off his suit. In the reflection of the steel elevator doors he could make out the blood on his face. Even his mask didn't protect him from having it smeared over his cheek and chin. He frowned at himself. He didn't like the image he saw.

* * *

><p>It wasn't Tony who was late to the meeting this time, but Bruce. He had been staying in the med lab, helping where needed-as well as running tests on blood samples. It had been something they started as soon as the team moved in together, everyone had a sample on file-as well as other baseline information. It would help later on if one of them were missing with a splatter of blood left behind, or help them determine what type of blood they needed in a transfusion. It was just a good idea.<p>

He left the program running while he went to the meeting. Everyone looked a little too somber for after a mission that went a lot better than expected. No one was horribly injured, from the sounds of it Amelia's kidnappers were no match for the team. They all looked up when he walked in breathless.

"News?" Fury asked...well, it was more like demanded-but that was Fury.

"They're still working on her, they've gotten her to a stable place though."

Fury nodded.

"The main reason I wanted to move Amelia to this team is much like Barnes I thought she would be caught in the crossfire...and it looks like I was right."

The entire team shifted, but for once-no one spoke up. "SHIELD has a mole, not only that but I think we have sleeper agents that we need to deal with."

"Sleeper agents? From where?" Natasha asked, sitting up in her seat.

"I believe that Hydra is trying to make a larger comeback than originally intended."

And that...got the room going.

* * *

><p>The meeting had continued with everyone quietly going through the tapes and files to find out what was going on. It was faster that way. Well, Fury thought it was faster. Tony was just more and more annoyed by the fact he had to sit quietly with earbuds in his ears while looking at a torture victim. She looked like someone he used to know, and that made it extra strenuous for him.<p>

When brought into a large white room and handcuffed to a desk she was sarcastic and bouncy-certainly not the lifeless girl he had seen hours earlier. The man who asked questions was in a lab coat, and while the girl was sarcastic her words were slurred-drugged apparently to keep her ability at bay. The man asked her several questions, from the Avengers to Loki, to SHIELD and she was either quite defiant to answer or had a slurred sarcastic answer.

It wasn't long until he was watching someone cane her back-the phrase he heard before he fast forwarded was, "this will hurt more than a whip". Even in fast forward he could see the pain on her face, the screams.

He looked around the dark room, most of the others had looks of disgust, some writing down what information was gained. It lasted like that for hours. Watch a section, find out what they were asking about, what she said, fast forward through the torture. It broke with Clint being the first one to find the reason she was taken.

"I got it. This video here, it was taken two days ago." The rest of the team was all too happy to pull out their earbuds, to break away from watching video after video. Not all of it was torture, some was just surveillance video of the compound...and that was tedious. "There is a new guy in this one, he's tall and avoids the camera-he knows they are there...clearly doesn't want to be seen."

Clint moved his screen towards where the others could see and pressed play.

It was a taller man with the lab coat questioner, they stood in the hall outside of where they had been keeping Amelia. Any movement the tall man made was calculated-to where his head was just out of the frame at any given time. Eerie, like he knew the tapes might fall into their hands and wanted to be careful. Didn't make him careful with what they were talking about though.

"She's dying."

The lab coat man looked a little worried, "We can fix that, we just-we were starving her the last few weeks hoping for answers-she hasn't spoken yet."

"You are aware of why we wanted her...it wasn't for her to be dead. If you can't get the answers out of her we wanted you to erase her mind-that simple." There was anger in the tall man's voice.

"We just were trying to get a little more out of her-look, she's so weak she can stand-she'll surely talk."

"If she's too weak to stand do you think she's going to be able to talk? You're an idiot."

"Sir, I'm sorry-I just thought…"

"Yes, YOU just thought. If it wasn't for YOU thinking we'd have an assassin on our side-considering the last one slipped through our hands."

"I...i…" The lab coat was stuttering now, honestly it made Tony feel a little bit happy considering all the torture he put the young girl through.

"We're going to have to scrap this project, figure something else out. I want all personal out of here within the next three days." The tall man was speaking to someone else off screen now; his command was followed by a 'yes sir'.

The lab coat got over his stutter, "What of the girl?"

"Well she's dying right? Just leave her there."

Clint paused the screen, and Tony looked around the table. Fury looked perplexed, everyone else had different expressions.

"He was going to make her like Bucky." Steve was the one to say it, the thought had been obvious. It made most of them happy that Bucky wasn't there to see the tape-while he was working for their side and had been living happily in the tower for the last few months his mind sometimes could still be...out of it.

"When Amelia is rested and well fed, her ability is endless-she would be the perfect assassin." Fury said with a sigh. "I swear I know that damn voice from somewhere."

There was a beeping noise and Bruce gave a sheepish look, "Her blood must have finished running in the lab." Spoke as his phone came out of his pocket.

"That's okay, I think we're done for today. We have the information we needed while also knowing that nothing was said from Amelia." Fury paused standing up, collecting all the files on the table. "Her things will be moved into the tower this week, so you better find space for her Stark."

"But what about the vote?"

"Oh sure, let's have a vote-who wants the women you just rescued and was tortured endlessly for information she never gave on your team?" It was sarcastic from Fury, but everyone did raise their hands, even Loki.

Of course, that's when Bucky walked in from his mission-which judging by the smile on his face went well and ended early. "What are we voting on? Did I miss something?"

* * *

><p>Being gone for the last month on a solo mission Bucky had missed quite a bit. Ever since coming to the Avengers he enjoyed working alone more than being on a team. Probably due to the fact that he could still be quite ruthless and honestly it wasn't something he wanted the others to see. Ever since getting his memories back he felt like he was split in two, there was a mix of guilt over what he had done as well as logic telling him it really wasn't him. It could be confusing.<p>

The only thing he was told before being ordered to the showers by his best friend (apparently a month long mission with no access to soap made a guy stink-go figure) was that they had a new team-mate who was injured and getting fixed up by the doctors, and that they thought SHIELD was infiltrated by Hydra. He certainly did need a shower to digest all of that information.

Of course curiosity got the better of him when he got into one of the elevators, it wouldn't be too long of a detour to stop by and take a peek through the windows of the medical lab right? Just a peek before heading to his floor.

Despite being experimented on and brainwashed he found the medical lab in the tower to be slightly more comforting. It was split into three different rooms, one was the lab itself where tests were run, the other was an actual state of the art ER with at least three areas to work in just in case more than one of the team was hurt at a time, and the last were private suites for recovery-he had spent some time there after his memories came back and his new arm had been installed after the old one was damaged beyond repair. They were nice rooms, complete with a TV, and room service.

He paused by the large windows of the ER, peering in to see a frenzy of activity. There was blood on lab coats, on the floor, but it looked like the worst of it had past. The part that made him flinch was that the woman's back was facing him, as they worked on her one of the nurses was holding her up into a sitting position-it was easy to see that the women was out of it, her body slack against the nurse. The woman's hair was tucked into a cap but strands of red were spilling out as they worked on her back. He chewed on his bottom lip. The woman's back was completely tore up, it looked like it had happened awhile ago and had tried to heal but was infected over time.

The redness ended halfway down her back, the rest untouched, pale, and toned. Bucky didn't realize he was zoning out until Bruce snuck up behind him. "I thought you were going to hit the showers?"

He liked Bruce, he sighed. "I just wanted to…"

"Check out the new team-mate?"

"Yeah."

"She looks a bit worse for wear."

"She looks like she was tortured." Bucky glanced back to Bruce, and then back to the girl whose back was getting doused in what he could only assume was some kind of infection killer.

"The day you left Fury came with word that she had been taken, as well as word that he had wanted to move her from SHIELD to our team. She has a really useful ability but apparently if she's weak she can't use it-they caught her off guard and used drugs to take her down. Days before she was taken she had been given a plethora of information on us so that she could make the choice for herself if she'd want to switch over to hear. We just found her today, so she was there that entire time being tortured and questioned, eventually left for dead."

"Steve still treats me like glass sometimes; I think he was worried how I would have reacted."

Out of the corner of his eye he saw a face that Bruce pulled. Bruce would not be good at poker.

"I'm guessing there is something that would have caused me to react poorly? C'mon doc, I'm in an okay place, tired from a mission-this is the best time to talk to me."

Bruce sighed, "You didn't hear this from me. We went through the tapes and files they collected from the compound. She had been on the verge of death when we found her-after the torture to try and get information out, they tried starving her, and it combined in her being at death's door. We found out that this wasn't what had been intended originally."

"What was?"

"While they did take her to try and get information out of her...they also took her to…" Bruce frowned, it was clear he was trying to figure out a way to say it without setting Bucky off. Honestly Bucky hated that mentality, sure he might have nightmares and sometimes be a little bit more ruthless than he wanted to be-but he wasn't going to lose it. He had a hold on himself.

The more he looked at Bruce, who was trying to figure out how to tell him, the quicker it dawned on Bucky. He turned back towards the girl whose back was being bandaged, his hand touched the glass in front of him. "They were going to try and turn her into me." He said softly, and yes when it dawned on him he did get angry.

He could hold it in. Keeping that feeling in the pit of his stomach as he watched the girl get lowered back onto the bed, he wondered what she went through-there were bruises on the skin he could see, and looking around he noticed a pile of bloody clothes along with dog tags hanging halfway off them glinting in the afternoon sun.

"What's her name?" He asked, finally-tearing himself away from the image in front of him.

"Her name is Amelia McCoy, her code name is Sorceress."

Bucky nodded and gave a glance to his good arm which held a beat up watch. "I guess I should hit the showers then."

"Probably be a good idea, no offense but you smell."

Bucky headed to his floor quietly, his mind churning at the information he had received. Honestly it wasn't just anger, but relief flooding his systems that the girl didn't have to go through what he had. He didn't know her, but he was still from a long gone time where you tended to protect women-treat them like damsels.

He liked his floor; his residence was on the side that looked out over the majority of the city-even in the evening hours sun still glittered through his place. It was neat and tidy in a way that screamed soldier, and it was filled with 'unexpected things' according to Steve. Bucky had taken to the new century a lot better than Steve who was always yearning for the good ole' days. His residence was filled with art, a large television, and plush sofas...all the comforts he had always wanted in his days as an assassin.

He stripped on the way to the bathroom, promising himself he'd pick up his gear later. A lot of it was heavy and filled with grime-once off him he could see just how dirty he got in the last month. His skin was covered in dirt, and was that a freaking stick that he had been walking around with in his suit? Yep, a six inch twig had been hanging out near his hip-that left an indent.

A shower after a month was bliss. The bottom of the shower was caked in dirt by the time he was done scrubbing himself. His hair while shorter than it had been while he was an assassin was still long enough to require a good scrubbing as well. By the time his shower was over he was bright red, smelled like sandalwood and peppermint, and his bionic arm glistened again.

Most of his worries were forgotten in the shower, but by the time he got to the sink to brush his teeth-all he could think, and say was "Amelia." Testing out the name slowly on his lips.

"Amelia…"

* * *

><p>"Bruce, level with me here-what the hell are you trying to tell me?"<p>

It had been that way for the last hour. Every single test had been run and then run again. They all came back the same. When the DNA ran through the system, there was an in house match for it.

"It would appear that you have a daughter and that she is our new team-mate."

Tony didn't know if he wanted to scream, laugh, or cry. Being a playboy he had always been very careful. Although when he was younger, when that girl would have been born...he probably wasn't as careful as he could have been.

"Did Fury know?" Tony wasn't stupid, he knew Bruce would have contacted Fury first, only to verify that he knew or didn't know.

"No, he didn't. At least it sounded like he didn't. He's going to look into it on his end. Either it's a cover up or she honestly did fall through the system and this is just an extreme coincidence."

"I think I'm going to have a heart attack. Oh God, what's Pepper going to say." He shoved his face in his hands, sitting down on a stool in the lab. The screen in front of him mocking him with the match status.

"It's not that bad Tony."

"Bruce, I have a daughter who may or may not be part of some larger conspiracy-and if not it's one hell of a coincidence-not only is she laying in the medical suite healing from being tortured but she's on our team now!"

"I'm not seeing where it's bad."

"I'm not ready to be a dad! I don't think I was ever ready to be a dad! I don't want to be a dad."

Pure panic. Pure Tony freaking out. Sure he can handle the responsibility of protecting the world but throw a girl in that has his DNA and he has a panic attack.

"Tony, she's twenty-five...I think she's well past the age of needing a Dad."

"I don't know what to do."

"First you need to tell Pepper, then relax-should wait to see what Fury can find out. That way we know how to move forward."

"Relax? Really?"

"Well, you can always do what you usually do and go get drunk."


	3. Chapter 3

**Winters Sorceress**

**By:** alittlebitofkate

**Rating:** R

**Notes:** No notes this time.

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter Two:<strong> Wake Me Up

The first thing Amelia was aware of had been the dull throbbing everywhere. The second thing was she was considerably warmer than the last time she had been aware of her surroundings. She laid in a plush bed, and although her vision was fuzzy when she opened her eyes she could tell she was in some kind of hospital room. Certainly not SHIELDS hospital, that place was awful compared to where she currently was.

She also became aware of all the tubes and needles that were currently attached to her body. She flexed the hand that didn't have a needle in it and was surprised at how hard it was to do so, she wondered how long she had been out. Her body felt very...weak.

Amelia wasn't up for long before the memories had flooded back to her. Mostly the fear and terror at being pretty certain she was going to die, the pain of the torture, she had been captive for a long time and she couldn't remember getting rescued. Was this still some part of the plan? Was she to be healed only to be tortured again? She shook involuntary before her heart rate spike had informed someone that she was awake.

A woman who she had never seen before slipped into the room; she was an older woman but not yet slow moving. "Hello dear, let's calm you down before you have a panic attack. You're currently at the Avengers Tower in New York City. Okay?"

A breath was let out, her shaking subsided. She was safe.

"Just going to do a few questions okay?"

Amelia nodded while the woman moved the bed into a more sitting position. The questions were given as she was checked out, blood pressure, the tubes, and bandages. Questions were normal, the year, her name, age, code name, president, run of the mill.

"You've been here for nearly two weeks. You'd wake up very briefly but not this coherent. I think it's safe to say you're on the mend."

"Two?"

Her voice was dry, voice breaking at the question.

"You had a lot of healing to do. The big thing is that your back was infected, and that infection was killing you. We had to cut open what had healed so poorly, scrub, disinfect, and bandage it. Then daily we were cleaning and bandaging. We only just stopped needing to on Tuesday." The woman explained, "You were also severely malnourished. If they had found you any later you wouldn't be here right now."

So the lady was no-nonsense. She liked that honestly.

"I'll get you some ice chips to help with your throat. Need to also let everyone know you're awake."

All Amelia could do was nod as she watched the old woman go. The woman returned a few minutes later with an ice cup and a promise to be back later after she had told who she needed to tell. Amelia sat there with a shaking hand holding her ice chips and trying to stay calm.

Her life, as she knew it was done. She had been hoping for an easy transition to the Avengers. Maybe some stupid hazing mission, figuring out how to organize her furniture, making new friends. Yet the transition wasn't going to be easy, she basically felt like she went to sleep one day with her normal life, and now here she was a completely different person in a different place.

Her tongue felt where a few of her teeth used to be. It truly was a blessing it was only her back teeth missing. It took a little bit but she was finally able to get an ice chip in her mouth. The blinds were drawn and as such she couldn't tell what time it was everything was so dim. Probably for the best considering her eyes had been shut for awhile.

She found herself staring at the ceiling for far too long, slowly eating the ice chips until all she had was an empty cup. She felt antsy. The last place she truly wanted to be was in a hospital bed. She wanted the comfort of her home, wine, and strawberries. Was that too much to ask? It probably was since it was October now and it wasn't really strawberry season.

A sigh graced her lips before she casually started to pull at the IV in her hand. It was itching. Wouldn't be that bad to remove it right?

"They leave you alone for an hour and you're already trying to pull out the medical equipment?" Fury's voice washed over her and honestly it was the first moment since waking up that she felt relaxed. Which was funny since usually she was never relaxed around the intimidating man.

"Hey, she said a couple of minutes and she'd be back-you can't blame me. Could be an apocalypse happening out there or something." Her voice was still raspy she didn't like it, made her feel like some old lady who had smoked her entire life.

"Funny."

"I aim to be a comedian."

"I just came by to let you know you'd be here in recovery for the next couple of days, and after that Stark gave you a suite on another floor-all of your stuff has already been moved."

She nodded; she wasn't too surprised by that. She knew that if you were to die while working for SHIELD they would box up your stuff into storage for a few years, a reason she never kept anything horribly questionable.

"You'll be off work until the New Year though."

"What?!" She sat up a little and made a groan of pain, that was a bad idea-things still hurt. Oh did they still hurt.

Fury came by close to push her gently back into the bed, "Easy now, you're still healing. And yes, until the New Year. Not only will you have to be mentally cleared to go back to work, but physically as well. Plus you need a break after an ordeal like that so you can come back the strongest version of yourself."

"What am I supposed to do in the meantime?"

"Meet your new team-mates, make friends, and explore the city. Hell you could learn to knit for all I care, there is no going on any live missions."

"This blows."

"It could be worse. You could be dead."

* * *

><p>"Are you going to tell her?"<p>

Tony looked at Fury as if he had grown another head. "Seriously DJ Spymaster? You actually want to share the secrets now?" He gave a sigh and shoved a handful of dried cranberries in his mouth, "It's probably not something we should throw on her right away."

Fury smiled at that, and it made Tony shudder-he had just walked right into Fury's trap. The man actually wanted Tony to keep a lid on it. To be fair, Tony couldn't blame him with everything he had learned about 'The Situation' which was what he had started to call the cover up of his daughter.

"I gave her until the New Year to be off mission, so just try and tell her before then. Don't need to get the team together and then suddenly have one of its members get a bombshell like that."

"New Years? Really?"

"She spent over a month being tortured, nearly dying...yes until New Years. Not only does her body need to be one hundred percent to have her abilities function strongly but mentally she's going to need some time, not to mention time to get used to the team and her new living situation."

"Yeah I think they're almost done painting in her residence, tried to match the place in D.C. as much as possible I guess." Tony said, bringing up the camera feed of the workers in her residence, something that of course would be shut down before she actually moved in there. "Are you sure it's a good idea to put her on Mr. Bionics' floor? I mean, we have a completely empty floor…"

"There is room on Agent Barnes floor, and he's saved our asses more than once since he got his memories back. Not to mention Foster and her team are transferring out here in a few weeks-better to give them an entire floor to work with. I hear she hate's people touching her stuff."

"I love how this started off as my tower and now you're basically the one running the show…"

Fury shrugged, "You're the one agreed it would be the Avengers tower, I don't so much call the shots as point you in the right direction."

* * *

><p>The first person outside of nurses and doctors to visit her was Steve Rogers. It was fitting since according to everything she had read he was basically the team leader. "Hello ma'am." He peeked his head in after knocking, she was sitting up with a book in her lap and a bowl of half eaten soup abandoned next to her. It wasn't that she wasn't hungry, it was mostly that she hated tomato soup.<p>

"Sir, you're older than me-I think you can call me Amelia. Even McCoy...anything but ma'am." She gave a smile as he sheepishly blushed.

"Amelia then. I just came to introduce myself and see how you were doing."

"I'm peachy keen." Which really wasn't a lie. She was feeling better all over, they had managed to even out her pain meds so they wouldn't run out every few hours, and for the most part she was keeping what had happened in the back of her mind-she didn't want to break down in a place where many people could see.

"You do look better than the last time I saw you." He said, taking a seat in a nearby chair, "What are you reading?"

"Don't make fun of me?" She showed him the cover, her book was old and weathered. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory the cover proudly proclaimed, "I always would read it when I didn't feel good when I was younger, or when I moved to a new home-kind of helps me get used to things."

"How are you getting used to things?" Concerned, looking out for his team-obviously he didn't want some basket case on the team.

"It's strange I will admit. Not quite like you, but I kind of was knocked out in one life and woke up in another one." It was a good similarity to make, he nodded at that. "I'll be better once I can get food I actually like, the soup is driving me nuts-and once I can get out of here. It's nice, but I was told my things were moved here and...I don't know...creature comforts I guess."

"How about I get someone to bring something up from the kitchen for you? You look like you can get down a little more than soup-and according to your file you need to eat in order to get back on your feet."

She nodded, "I will never have to worry about how much I eat it seems. It's a perk."

He stood up, and glanced around-her medical suite looked a little sad almost. No flowers, no cards, just her and a stack of books, and a sad bowl of soup. If it had been Natasha in here there would have been gaudy balloons, flowers, and cards-she would complain but he knew she secretly liked that stuff. He supposed that Amelia was just so new that people had a hard time thinking she was a team-mate.

Soon though. He'd make sure she'd be welcomed-after all, she did keep their secrets. "Well I'll have someone up here in a little bit with real food. Any allergies or picky about anything?"

"I hate raw onions, cooked are fine though." She gave him a smile; it was nice to have a visitor. "Thank you Steve, it was nice to meet you. It will be wonderful working together."

He nodded, and headed out her door-and she was alone again. She sighed biting her bottom lip, her back itched, and all she wanted was her sofa and an hour worth of crying. She blinked back the tears. She was well aware the more she held it together the sooner she'd be able to leave that room. Back to her book.

* * *

><p>"Buck, I need you to do me a favor." Bucky heard as he was just about to dig into a glorious sandwich...well actually more like about to finish the sandwich, there were only two bites left. He glanced back at Steve who just walked in, complete with flowers, chocolates, and a bag full of food from the bistro next door.<p>

"Got a date?" He raised a brow, taking the last two bites of his sandwich while turning fully to see what Steve was up to.

"I was in the middle of doing this for the new girl so she'd feel welcome on the team but I got a call from Fury, Natasha and I are needed in DC for some SHIELD related stuff." Steve explained in a rush.

"So you want me to go spend some time with the new girl and bring her...this?"

"I promised her food. She's getting tired of soup."

Bucky felt a twinge of something in his stomach. Jealousy? No it couldn't be...he hadn't even met the girl yet. "You...you sweet on her or something?"

"It's not like that." Steve was quick to defend, which wasn't surprising he was still hung up on Peggy. "It's just any other team member in that room would have this kind of treatment. I think the rest of the team is kind of forgetting we have a new member since she hasn't actually worked with us yet or has been out of medical."

Steve, always the good guy.

"Of course I'll take it up to her. Go on your mission, be safe. Besides, they're moving her in next door to me so I should get to know her I guess." He took a brief look at himself in the stainless steel fridge and hopped off his stool, dropping his plate into the sink to take care of later.

"Well, remember she's going to be on the team...so try not to get to know her too well."

"Ladies have a hard time refusing this charm." In times like these he did feel like his old self again, of course a lot of it was just an act. Hell he didn't know if it was an act for Steve's sake or his own. It was nice though, comfortable in a strange way. He grabbed the bag of food, the chocolates and the flowers and headed towards the elevators. "Be safe."

"Always." He heard Steve call out as he was entering the elevator.

He wouldn't lie to himself, Bucky had thought about the girl since the moment he first found out about the new addition. His thoughts were only confounded by the fact that they were putting her on his floor. His floor was one of the only split floors, but honestly he didn't think they would trust him so much so soon. He didn't always trust himself.

Bucky had been so lost in thought he almost didn't get off the elevator when the doors dinged open. He had to stop once more before reaching her door to glance at himself. He was dressed simply, jeans and a white tee shirt. His metal arm was a little foreboding as usual but there was nothing he could do about that piece of equipment.

Eventually he knocked on her door and he heard a soft, "Come in!"

He juggled what was in his hands to open the door and step into her room. The afternoon light filtered in through the blinds, which was a nice change for the fluorescent hallway. "Steve sent me." Okay that was a lame start.

She smiled at him, and he put the bag of food on the empty tray table next to her-the chocolates and flowers going on the table on the other side. All the while trying to covertly look her over. She had a book in her lap, the bruises were fading from her milky white skin but they were still yellow. Her red hair was parted down the middle and placed in braids on either side of her face. One honey colored eye was still a little bloodshot, and she was still hooked up to a few monitors.

"Hi, I'm Amelia." She broke him from his revere holding her hand out towards him in introduction.

The hard part about his metal arm was it was also the arm he shook hands with, she didn't flinch at the touch which was nice. "I'm Bucky."

"It's nice to meet you. Do you want to sit down or something? I'll still stuff my face in front of you, but it'd be nice to have some company and it does look like Steve horribly overestimated how much I can eat...I mean, I can eat a lot...just not...this much." She had already been going through the bag of food, it was clear that Steve was trying to get an array of food to please her. There was a salad with grilled chicken, a few pasta dishes, bread sticks, cookies...it was a lot of food.

"Sure, I don't have anywhere to be."

"Oooh he also got sodas!" She practically squealed and it made him smile a tad-it was nice to see her...filled with life after what had happened to her. He wondered if she was just one of those resilient people.

"Steve thinks of everything, which is why he's the leader usually." He said with a grin as she handed him one of the dishes, not even bothering to say he had just eaten-because to be fair he could always eat.

"This is so much nicer than soup...or bread and water for that matter." She muttered as she forked into the pasta dish in front of her.

"I know the feeling." He muttered into his own dish, looking up to watch her for a moment. She looked very happy over her food.

"I suppose you do."

"So you read my file."

"Did you read mine?"

He shook his head, "I was on mission when they were trying to rescue you and never got a chance to see your file."

"Oh. Sorry. It's easier if it's you get to see mine, I get to see yours…"

He raised his brows, and could only watch in amusement as her face turned a brilliant shade of red. "Not like that…" She managed, "I just meant...you know that ugh...this is why I don't socialize."

He smiled and laughed, "You're doing fine, I get what you mean. It's okay honestly; it's good to know who your new team-mates are."

"That it is...so, what do you want to know about me then?"

He thought about that for a moment, swirling pasta round his fork. She didn't seem to concerned at his pause, taking the time to eat an entire breadstick in less than a minute-it was impressive. He didn't really want to ask the typical questions. Bucky wasn't stupid, if she was with SHIELD if she was transferred to the Avengers the woman had to have her talents. He wanted to know something others wouldn't from the transcripts in her file.

"What is the very first thing you do when you are off mission?"

She looked up, clearly not expecting that question yet smiling over it. The tab of one of the sodas was popped open and she took a long sip. "That's heavenly. Okay, let's see. Honestly let's see...when I get off mission I go home, usually I'll order food on my way home so I don't have to wait that long. So I'll order something like a really big cheese pizza covered in every kind of meat they have. By the time I get home I have just enough time to draw a bubble bath, pour a glass of wine-well to be honest I just take the bottle into the tub with me so really there isn't much sense for a glass-and then by the time the pizza gets there I can go into my bathroom take a long bath, drink wine to relax, eat a copious amount of food, and listen to music." She had her eyes closed by the time she was done talking about it.

Bucky just watched her for a moment, "That sounds nice."

She smiled, "It is. I've always been like that though-I'd rather come home to relax than anything else. I always have a week after missions anyway so it's a good way to start that week."

"Why a week?" It wasn't unheard of to get time off after a mission but there were times when he'd come home from a mission and be deployed the next day.

"I quite literally need to recharge my abilities, usually after a mission I am out for the count and need to eat, sleep, and rest in order to get them back to working shape. It's why I couldn't...couldn't get out of, um...where I was-they caught me off guard and drugged me and kept me drugged until I was too weak to use my ability. It's kind of lame like that."

"What happens if you're on a mission and you get tired?"

She sighed, "Well, for the most part I can manage-I mean you get trained to have it hard on missions, to go without sleep and to go without food...but there is a point if I'm tired and have been doing some heavy duty lifting with my powers that I can kind of be out for the count-I think that might be one of the reasons Fury wanted me here. He's not really trusting SHIELD too much and I have to rely too much on my team mates to keep me safe if I go down."

"Well I'll keep you safe here." He paused, no that's not what he wanted to say…"I mean, we'll keep you safe."

She smiled at that, it looked like they were both tripping over their words a little.

"So, you tell me-what do you do after a mission?"

"Basically the same thing, no bath though-just a shower. No wine-whiskey instead. Usually I'm too tired to wait for my food so I'll have a bowl of cereal or something and then crash on my couch while watching television."

"It sounds perfect. See, I feel a little jipped-I wake up here and haven't even been able to take a bath yet. It's really frustrating. That plus y'know being stuck in here."

He nodded, "I understand that completely, it's like the ritual gets broken."

"Exactly. And I feel fine now. Maybe a little achy, but I just wish they'd let me get on with it." She said with a sigh, and then gave a sheepish look, "Sorry I don't mean to rant to you."

He snagged a cookie, "It's okay, I understand the feeling. If you are feeling better they'll probably let you out sooner rather than later."

"The doctor said I could probably go as early as tonight or tomorrow since I'm walking fine now and eating. I think that makes me more impatient, knowing that it's sooner rather than later. Of course the hard part is I won't be going home to my apartment."

"Well we'll be neighbors; you're on my floor so I can promise it's not too bad."

She smiled, "That is really good news Bucky."

* * *

><p>Her next visitor was actually the one who was going to whisk her to where she'd be living. The morning was spent getting any tubes or monitors removed and being put into a simple sweat suit to wear until she was able to get her own clothes which she assumed would be as soon as she got into her new place.<p>

She was being given pain medication and sleeping pills ("Just in case dear") as Tony Stark came to stand in the door. He wasn't as imposing as pictures made him look. He was dressed simply, jeans and an old faded AC/DC shirt which was illuminated in the chest by his arc reactor. Leaned on the door jam he watched as she was given the very last once over and details of how to take care of herself.

"Hey there kitten, I'm here to take you to your new home and tell you how it is around here."

Kitten?

"Lead the way."

She was still stiff as she walked the halls following him. Tony seemed to notice and slowed his pace a bit to fall in line with her. "Obviously this is the medical floor, we have labs, our own ER, and recovery suites. Mostly this is used for after missions, even uninjured we have to come here and get checked out...it's just a good idea."

She squinted at the florescent lights; it was quite the change from her naturally lit medical suite. They stood by the elevators and she was unnerved at how he was staring at her.

"We won't do the full building tour until you can get around a little bit better but we'll go up a few floors for the community floor and then down to your residence." They stepped into the elevator, "Jarvis please be aware that Amelia here has full access to the building."

"Noted sir, and it is nice to meet you Agent McCoy." The voice was coming from everywhere and nowhere and was...creepy.

"Uh...it's nice to meet you too...Jarvis?"

"Jarvis is my AI. He is the main security system for the building, while we have back ups he is what will let us know if anything is going wrong. If you need to find anyone in the building you can just ask Jarvis."

"Basically you can ask me anything." The voice said again.

"Like a better version of google." Tony said with a smirk.

They walked out of the elevator again onto a much less sterile looking floor. She could tell there was a lab at the very end of the hall, but to her surprise to the left the wall opened up to show a very comfortable looking lounge area complete with large television, plush sofas, a pool table, and bar. Along with that was a very nice looking kitchen, complete with who she recognized as Bruce Banner sitting at the island sipping tea while waiting for something in the microwave.

"Big guy, I'm showing our new recruit around. This is Bruce Banner."

The man smiled and she couldn't help but smile back, it seemed he was very sincerely pleased to see her for some reason. "It's nice to see you now that you're awake and well. I helped the medical team when they brought you in."

Ah, that explained it.

"Well thank you then, it's nice to continue to exist." That sounded a lot better in her head, but it did get a laugh out of the men.

"I'm just doing the quick tour for her, showing her where her room is next-I'll be back up in a few to talk." Tony said, his hand going to gently guide her-not quite touching her back but definitely leading her away.

"It was nice to meet you Dr. Banner." She called out with a wave.

As they were walking back to the elevator Tony continued with his speech about the tower. "If you are in the city, as in not on a mission-on Sunday's at six sharp we all do dinner together with whoever is in town. Kind of a way to stay connected as a team since we aren't always on the same missions. So, this Sunday you'll have to be there. I think Pepper said something about doing Mexican food."

She nodded, making note again what floor they were on as they got into the elevator.

"I like Mexican food...actually any food is pretty good in my books."

"I know the feeling kid."

"Your floor is four up from here, and two below me. You're on the only split level floor right now with Barnes...two separate residences however. The empty floor we were going to put you in has apparently been planned to be used by Thor's girlfriend and her team."

"That's okay, Bucky came to see me yesterday-he let me know we'd be neighbors."

"He did?" Tony asked, and the look on his face caused slight confusion for Amelia. It was very...protective looking. It was weird; she might have expected a look like that from Fury since she had known him for the last ten years-but Tony Stark? Not what she expected.

"Originally Steve was supposed to come by with my lunch yesterday but since he was called away he had Bucky do it." She explained as if to make the situation better...as if she HAD to make the situation better.

"Well anyway, this is your floor. Mr. Bionics' door is the first one to your right and you're across the hall. All of your stuff has been moved in, and your walls were painted to kind of match how you had the other apartment." He opened her door, letting her step in first.

It was...almost like the twilight zone. The walls were nearly the same exact shades of tan and merlot, the layout was very similar to her old apartment-a few things were tweaked as the kitchen in this place was much larger. The windows were floor to ceiling; she walked over to them first to look out. They were high up.

"You can have Jarvis dim the windows at any time." Tony explained as she walked through the new apartment, "He also keeps any uninvited guests out. I guess we have a knocking honor system. Only team members can come to resident floors unless given specific permission."

She nodded, only half listening to him as she went through her new home. The bedroom was huge, "My bed is different."

"Yeah, sorry-your little bed didn't look right in how big the room was. So we upgraded."

Upgrade was an understatement, it was a large King bed. The bedding was different but as close to what she was used to as possible, dark sheets-dark comforter. She sat on the bed for a moment with a smile, it felt just right-not too hard or soft. "Thank you." She smiled at him, and for once he looked genuinely pleased.

The bathroom was the next thing to be looked over-it was much like her old bathroom-the shower and tub were separate, but they were both much larger. Her sink and mirror were larger as well. There was a gift basket of bath and body stuff on the counter. She was looking it over as Tony peeked his head in.

"Pepper, my girl-she picked that out for you. Said girls liked that kind of thing."

"I do, it's perfect-the right type of scent too...but I assume that's because someone noticed the scents I had previously."

He smiled. "You're correct."

At the end of it-the new place was very similar to her old, just a little different here and there-she liked it. "Thank you so much, I...this it's really nice."

He looked pleased, looking around the room. "Only the best for my...team-mates."

It was insane how everything she owned was there; it was surreal to wake up from such a horrible time to find all of her stuff in a new place. Amelia found that she didn't mind it too badly. There were things, here and there that were new or out of place. She chalked that up to how large the space was. It would look strange and sterile if it wasn't filled.

"Your kitchen is stocked; we took the cue from what you had in your other apartment and kind of went from there. Food is delivered every Friday night; you can submit a grocery ticket with Jarvis with what foods you want. He'll help you went the time comes. If we're ever not here on Friday night to take the delivery it's put away for us by a cleared security team." He explained, with her nodding all around. That was a nice system. She did love to cook and bake but with work getting to the store was a pain.

"That sounds like a nice system." For being someone known for her sarcastic attitude sometimes, Tony was making her nervous for some reason. It made it hard to come up with a wittier response.

"Basically you're supposed to chill out for a while according to Fury, obviously you're not a prisoner so go out at your own discretion. Explore the building as you see fit, as an Avenger you are allowed anywhere in the building. Just knock if you're on a personal floor. We'll do dinner at six PM sharp on Sunday and you can mingle as you choose fit…"

Amelia nodded; it would be nice to get out into the city when she felt up to it. At current all the standing she had been doing was making her ache. She should probably try to find other team members too, but if they were going to be at dinner at Sunday seeking them out didn't seem like much of a priority.

"I appreciate your help; I know it's probably not easy suddenly just having a new team member like this." It certainly wasn't easy for her; she had originally been day dreaming that there would be some kind of meeting, maybe a few team exercises to make sure she was a good fit…

"Considering what you went through we'd be idiots not to have you on our team, you did good Kiddo." And with that he lightly patted her shoulder, clearly weary of causing her upper back any pain and left with a wave. "See ya in a few days if not before!"

And for the first time in days, hell weeks if she counted her time trapped she was alone. By herself, in the comfort of her own home.

* * *

><p>As soon as he shut the door behind him Tony gave a sigh and ran his hands through his hair. That had been...well, awkward. He honestly had never been one for children, knowing that he would make a piss poor father. Pepper never pushed him on the subject of children or even marriage for that matter. It was nice though, to meet her and truly talk to her. The sarcastic nature he had been told about seemed dimmed, be it because she was so overwhelmed or had been deeply affected by her torture was anyone's guess. Even without the sarcasm he could see himself, his family in her.<p>

She was on the shorter side, which surprised him since her mother was quite tall (he had a thing for legs after all), her eyes were all him as was the jaw line. It was weird, like skipping ahead to the end of a book. There she was a daughter he didn't know he had-grown up. He honestly didn't know when or if he was going to tell her either.

Fury said she was a good agent, but alluded to the fact that before joining SHIELD her life was difficult. She had been with SHIELD for a good ten years now, and had a decent track record for successful missions. According to Fury she also didn't have much of a personal life-like Tony, she would throw herself into work. He really didn't know what to do and anytime he thought about it this feeling in his stomach would rise up in a burning panic.

Before he could have a full blown panic attack in the hallway though, the elevator doors dinged open and the Mr. Bionic himself had stepped out with a gym bag slung over his shoulder. Bucky took one look at him and raised a brow of question.

It was interesting having him on the team, but then again the team was made of interesting people. At first Bucky being there was hard on everyone; even with his memories returned he had still been quiet and moody. Over time he started to loosen up, to the point where even Steve said that it was like the 'old' Bucky was back.

"Was bringing the new girl to her room." Tony explained, trying to regain his composure from his near freak out.

"How's she adjusting?" Leave it to Bucky to ask that. He knew a thing or two about needing to adjust.

He shrugged, it was hard to tell. "She seemed fine, happy to have her own place and be out of medical I think."

Bucky didn't look convinced, but he nodded anyway. "It's hard going through that kind of thing."

Tony wanted to say 'I know' since he was also captured for a while, but he had been fed, he had company, he wasn't tortured...so in the end he didn't think he really knew at all. "Feel free to check on her every once in awhile if you want." Coward. He should be the one to check on her...but...should he?

"I can do that, Steve was like that when I first came here. Would just bring pizza and some movies."

As Tony bid goodbye and started to make his way back to the elevator he couldn't help but kick himself, the girl was his daughter maybe not by anything other than blood but there he was having a former very violent assassin as her neighbor who he asked to check up on her.

Parent of the year.


End file.
